Roy Cooper holds 5,200 vote lead in update totals

Posted: Wed 9:22 PM, Nov 16, 2016&nbsp|&nbsp

Updated: Fri 12:35 PM, Nov 18, 2016

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Updated totals from the State Board of Elections show Democrat Roy Cooper now holds a more than 5,200-vote lead over Republican incumbent Pat McCrory in the race for North Carolina governor.

The State Board of Elections is updating race tallies as counties submit results that include votes cast as either provisional or absentee ballots.

Counties were supposed to finish this process Friday, but state elections officials said they don't expect it to get done on time and have given no deadline for when it might get finished.

The trailing candidate in the governor's race will be able to ask for a statewide recount if the vote margin remains 10,000 or less. McCrory's campaign says that protests over election results are being filed in 50 counties.

(Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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Protests are being filed in 50 counties to challenge what the McCrory campaign calls known instances of votes being cast by dead people, felons or individuals who voted more than once.

Additional ballot protests are expected as additional cases are discovered.

These protests follow the discovery of North Carolina Democrat Party-funded political action committees which the McCrory campaign says appear to have paid individuals to fill out and witness hundreds of fraudulent absentee ballots for Democrats including Roy Cooper in Bladen County and potentially 11 others.

The protests urge each county board of elections conduct a full scale investigation into these absentee ballots and review all witness signatures on these absentee ballot envelopes to look for evidence of obvious ballot harvesting, which could impact thousands of votes. These protests also request that the county election boards conduct this review before certifying the final number of lawful votes during their respective canvasses.

The Cooper campaign responded saying, "Governor McCrory has set a new standard for desperation in his attempts to undermine the results of an election he lost. The truth is this election was administered by Republicans appointed by Governor McCrory himself.

Roy Cooper's margin of victory has grown since Election Day and will continue to grow stronger as final votes are tallied. Voters chose a new Governor, it's time for the McCrory campaign to accept it."

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A complete tally of votes in North Carolina that could affect the close governor's race won't be finished on time because of pending ballot challenges and a court order about people who believed they registered at the Division of Motor Vehicles.

State Board of Elections spokesman Pat Gannon said Thursday that several of the state's 100 counties have already said they won't complete their counting by Friday's deadline. State law gives them more time to complete their canvass.

Gannon cited pending county election protests for the delay and collecting information from DMV about people who cast provisional ballots and insist they registered or updated their registration address at the agency.

A delay extends uncertainty about the vote margin between Democrat Roy Cooper and Gov. Pat McCrory and whether the trailing candidate will seek a recount. Cooper now leads by about 4,750 votes.

(Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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Roy Cooper's campaign says their candidate's lead has grown to 5,785 votes as more counties report absentee and provisional ballot totals.

After election night, the current attorney general led by 4879 votes over Gov. Pat McCrory.

All counties must count provisional and late absentee ballots by Friday's canvassing.

This comes as the McCrory campaign has filed 12 protests over absentee ballots in the tight race.

These protests follow the discovery of a North Carolina Democratic Party-funded political action committee which the McCrory campaign says appears to have paid individuals to fill out and witness hundreds of fraudulent absentee ballots for Democrats, including Attorney General Roy Cooper in Bladen County.

Cooper's campaign was quick to call the McCrory complaint a misinformation campaign. "It is absolutely shameful that Governor McCrory would make these unfounded claims," said Cooper campaign spokesman Ford Porter. "This is the worst kind of misinformation campaign meant to undermine the results of an election the Governor has lost."

The protests urge each county board of elections to conduct a full scale investigation into these absentee ballots and review all witness signatures on these absentee ballot envelopes to look for evidence of obvious ballot harvesting.

These protests also request that the county election boards review these envelopes before certifying the final number of lawful votes on Friday.

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The State Board of Elections says it's investigating irregularities with mail-in absentee ballots received in a southeastern North Carolina county for this fall's election.

Board spokesman Patrick Gannon confirmed Tuesday the investigation of the Bladen County ballots is continuing.

The ballots are the subject of a formal election protest that Republican Gov. Pat McCrory's campaign announced was filed late Tuesday at the Bladen elections board by a winning candidate for soil and water conservation district supervisor.

The protest says hundreds of ballots may have been cast unlawfully to influence races large and small. The McCrory campaign alleges the ballots were supposed to help Democrats.

McCrory is trailing Democrat Roy Cooper by 5,000 votes with more ballots yet to be counted.

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1:10 p.m.

The elections board chairman in heavily Democratic Durham County says he doubts Gov. Pat McCrory will find the surge of votes from his community that his fellow Republican needs to reverse Attorney General Roy Cooper's statewide lead.

McCrory's re-election campaign has filed a formal protest over the 94,000 votes cast during early balloting that were reported late on election night after an equipment failure.

Brian says results were spot-checked that night, and Durham County voted heavily for Democrat Roy Cooper both before and during Election Day. Cooper leads by about 5,000 votes in unofficial statewide results.

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Roy Cooper says his lead over Governor Pat McCrory has increased after the first day of counting late absentee votes.

After election night, the current attorney general led by 4879 votes over the incumbent governor.

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